Event Horizon is an amusing foray into the cloudy realm of sci-fi/horror hybrids,
if only because you can catch a glimpse of the occasional shamefaced parent leading
a squalling and terrified tot out of the theatre and over to the slightly less gory
Free Willy 3 that's unspooling next door. There were indeed several walkouts at the
Event Horizon screening I attended, most of which were attributable to families who
obviously had not a clue what they were letting themselves in for, though I suspect
more than a few folks chose to exit thanks in part to Phillip Eisner's glaring over-reliance
on horror show clichés and Fishburne's frightening and perpetually knitted brow.
From its marketing-impaired title on down, Event Horizon is a steadily churning debacle
that promises much more than it can deliver and ends up drowning in a crimson sea
of gore and maddeningly out-of-place steals from other, better genre shockers. The
Event Horizon of the title refers to a prototype starship that has been sent out
to the distant edge of the galaxy and suddenly and unexpectedly returns one day after
a seven-year break in communication. The Lewis & Clark, a search-and-rescue ship
commanded by stern-faced Captain Miller (Fishburne), is sent to intercept the Event
Horizon as it drifts past Neptune, and hopefully reveal the mystery of this interstellar
Marie Celeste. Among the usual complement of cliché action figures onboard Miller's
ship is Dr. William Weir (Neill), the architect of the Event Horizon and a fellow
with piercing, squirrely eyes that seem to scream "Madman!" every time
he blinks. You'd think by the year 2047 spaceship crews would be able to recognize
trouble in their midst, but apparently that's not the case, and so when the Lewis
& Clark finally docks beside the huge, cruciform body of the Event Horizon, it's
quite clear already that there's trouble afoot. From this point on, director Anderson
(Mortal Kombat) pours on the gore and tosses right out the pressure-lock what little
logic the plot might have ever possessed. Any number of comparisons come to mind,
but more than anything else Event Horizon will remind genre fans of Hellraiser II
in outer space, from Anderson's admittedly rattling shock cuts to the huge, labyrinthine
corridors of the marooned ship herself. Granted, when Anderson pillages, he only
steals from the best, and so you'll find traces of The Shining, The Haunting, Aliens,
and even The City of Lost Children cropping up all over the place. The only thing
he's neglected to include, it seems, is a plot worth bothering with, a sad fact made
all the more distressing by the filmmaker's obvious love for the genre. Like most
of its characters, Event Horizon is a bloody mess, rife with powerhouse effects,
but not much else.
2.0 stars